BUTLER, Mich. — It may have been a day late, but Sunday’s Mace Thomas Classic for the Kubota High Limit Racing sprint cars delivered the goods with a full house at Butler Motor Speedway.
The box score will say that James McFadden led every lap from the pole position, but that hardly paints the story.
The Roth Motorsports No. 83 was forced to fight off countless challenges from multiple drivers on an ever-changing surface all while lap traffic was in the fray.
In order, McFadden held off Tyler Courtney, then Justin Peck, then Brad Sweet to finally score his first-career win with Kubota High Limit Racing, after coming close many times this season.
In fact, it was a bit of “Sweet” revenge for the Northern Territory, Australia gasser, who lost the closest finish in series history to Brad Sweet by 0.012 seconds three weeks at 34 Raceway.
Sunday, it was McFadden who bested Sweet by 0.063 seconds, the second-closest finish in series history.
McFadden and the Roth Motorsports team — consisting of Brent Ventura, Rob Beattie, and Gary Patellaro — are the 10th different winner with Kubota High Limit Racing in 2024.
Sweet finished second aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts No. 49, extending his slim championship lead to 16 points ahead of Tyler Courtney and the Clauson-Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink No. 7bc, who finished third tonight.
Justin Peck and Brent Marks rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 83-James McFadden[1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 4. 13-Justin Peck[6]; 5. 19-Brent Marks[5]; 6. 5-Spencer Bayston[10]; 7. 14-Corey Day[8]; 8. 88-Tanner Thorson[12]; 9. 26-Zeb Wise[14]; 10. 99-Skylar Gee[7]; 11. 55-Chris Windom[3]; 12. 1-Brenham Crouch[11]; 13. 24-Rico Abreu[9]; 14. 9-Kasey Kahne[16]; 15. 8-Cory Eliason[15]; 16. 9P-Parker Price Miller[17]; 17. 24D-Danny Sams III[21]; 18. 7N-Darin Naida[13]; 19. 10SR-Keith Sheffer Jr[23]; 20. 5E-Bobby Elliott[24]; 21. 1A-Jacob Allen[19]; 22. 01-Chase Ridenour[18]; 23. 71H-Max Stambaugh[20]; 24. 14R-Sean Rayhall[22]